National Catholic Reporter: Content by Ron Csillaghttps://www.ncronline.org/rss.xml/35671
enCanadian Supreme Court rules against prayer at city council meetingshttps://www.ncronline.org/news/global/canadian-supreme-court-rules-against-prayer-city-council-meetings
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Ron Csillag </span>
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Religion News Service </span>
<span class="field field-name-field-location field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">
Toronto </span>
<section class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<p>Canada's Supreme Court has ruled that a small town in Quebec may not open its council meetings with prayer.</p>
<p>In a unanimous ruling Wednesday, Canada's highest court ruled that the town of Saguenay can no longer publicly recite a Catholic prayer because it infringes on freedom of conscience and religion.</p>
<p>The case dates back to 2007, when a resident of Saguenay complained about public prayer at City Hall.</p> </section>
Thu, 16 Apr 2015 20:53:07 +0000Pam Cohen100431 at https://www.ncronline.orgCharter of Quebec Values would ban 'overt' religious symbolshttps://www.ncronline.org/news/global/charter-quebec-values-would-ban-overt-religious-symbols
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Ron Csillag </span>
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Religion News Service </span>
<section class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<p>Government employees will not be able to wear large crosses and crucifixes, Islamic headscarves, Sikh turbans and Jewish yarmulkes under the new law.</p>
</section>
Mon, 16 Sep 2013 15:15:44 +0000Pam Cohen59751 at https://www.ncronline.orgCanadians turning away from organized religionhttps://www.ncronline.org/news/global/canadians-turning-away-organized-religion
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Ron Csillag </span>
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Religion News Service </span>
<span class="field field-name-field-location field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">
Toronto </span>
<section class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<p>A new national study shows that while Canada remains overwhelmingly Christian, Canadians are turning their backs on organized religion in ever greater numbers.</p>
<p>Results from the 2011 National Household Survey show that more than two-thirds of Canadians, approximately 22 million people, said they were affiliated with a Christian denomination.</p> </section>
Thu, 16 May 2013 14:01:26 +0000Pam Cohen52021 at https://www.ncronline.orgQuebec mayor fights order to remove crucifixhttps://www.ncronline.org/news/global/quebec-mayor-fights-order-remove-crucifix
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Ron Csillag </span>
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Religion News Service </span>
<section class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<p><strong>TORONTO</strong> -- The mayor of a Quebec town says he will appeal a decision by a human rights tribunal that bans prayer at city council and ordered him to remove a crucifix from the council’s chambers.</p><p>Saguenay Mayor Jean Tremblay said he will refuse to heed the judgment from the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal that also ordered him to remove a Sacred Heart statue.</p><p>The tribunal ordered the town to pay $30,000 in damages to the local resident who complained about the religious symbols, ruling they infringed on his freedom of conscience. The town is roughly 90 percent Catholic.</p><p>Tremblay has set up a toll-free telephone line and posted a link on the town’s website to solicit donations for his legal battle.</p><p>“Why is it us Christians that always have to bend?” Tremblay told the Globe and Mail newspaper. “Our values have no importance. I am the first mayor in the history of the world to be punished for reciting a prayer.”</p><p>The tribunal’s decision is widely viewed as the latest step toward Quebec’s aggressive march toward secularism. Earlier this month, provincial lawmakers voted to ban ceremonial Sikh daggers, known as kirpans, from the legislature.</p> </section>
Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:03:07 +0000Anonymous23006 at https://www.ncronline.orgCanadian Orthodox bishop on leave for 'misconduct'https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/canadian-orthodox-bishop-leave-misconduct
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Ron Csillag </span>
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Religion News Service </span>
<section class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<p><strong>TORONTO</strong> -- One of Canada's top Eastern Orthodox hierarchs has resigned his duties and been granted a leave of absence following allegations by police of “misconduct” going back decades.</p><p>Archbishop Seraphim of Ottawa, who has jurisdiction over all of Canada for the New York-based Orthodox Church in America, requested and was granted a leave of absence.</p> </section>
Wed, 06 Oct 2010 20:09:40 +0000Dennis Coday20618 at https://www.ncronline.orgFaith relies on practical action, says authorhttps://www.ncronline.org/news/spirituality/faith-relies-practical-action-says-author
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Ron Csillag </span>
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Religion News Service </span>
<section class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<p>THE CASE FOR GOD<br />By Karen Armstrong<br />Published by Alfred A. Knopf, $27.95</p><p><em>Acclaimed British writer Karen Armstrong has been described as one of the most provocative and original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world.</em></p><p><em>Her first book,</em> Through the Narrow Gate, <em>chronicled her seven years as a nun in a Roman Catholic religious order, which she quit in 1969. She has authored biographies of the Prophet Muhammad and the Buddha, and the best-sellers</em> A History of God <em>and</em> The Battle for God.</p> </section>
Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:45:08 +0000Anonymous16150 at https://www.ncronline.orgCanada aboriginals receive pope's 'sorrow' for abusehttps://www.ncronline.org/news/canada-aboriginals-receive-popes-sorrow-abuse
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Francis X. Rocca </span>
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Ron Csillag </span>
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Religion News Service </span>
<section class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<p>VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI met aboriginal survivors of Canada's residential school system Wednesday, April 29, and voiced his "sorrow" over "deplorable" abuses in the church-run schools.</p><p>"Given the sufferings that some indigenous children experienced in the Canadian Residential School system, the Holy Father expressed his sorrow at the anguish caused by the deplorable conduct of some members of the Church and he offered his sympathy and prayerful solidarity," the Vatican said in a statement.</p><p>"His Holiness emphasized that acts of abuse cannot be tolerated in society."</p><p>Benedict privately received a delegation led by Phil Fontaine, grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and Archbishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, after the pope's weekly public audience.</p><p>The private meeting resulted from more than two years of diplomatic efforts between native leaders and the Catholic Church.</p> </section>
Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:27:48 +0000Dennis Coday12925 at https://www.ncronline.orgBishops urge Canadians to vote with 'discernment'https://www.ncronline.org/news/bishops-urge-canadians-vote-discernment
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Ron Csillag </span>
<span class="field field-name-field-byline field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden">
Religion News Service </span>
<section class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<p>TORONTO -- Canada's Catholic bishops are urging their flock to vote with "discernment" in the country's Oct. 14 federal election. </p><p>The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a four-page guide encouraging Catholics "to become better informed about the issues, to voice their concerns with the political candidates ... and, most of all, to vote." </p><p><img src="/sites/default/files/stories/images/oldimgs/20080908canada01.thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title=" Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, center, feeds 14-month-old Eric Huang during a campaign stop at the Huang family home in Richmond, British Columbia, Sept. 8. Also pictured are Edwin Huang, left, Renee Huang and Fei Chen. Canadians will head to th e polls in a federal election Oct. 14. (CNS photo/Chris Wattie, Reuters)" height="161" width="250" />Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the election recently in an effort to turn his minority Conservative government into a majority in the House of Commons. </p><p>The guide goes on to list some basic principles from Catholic moral and social teaching to help voters examine and evaluate public policy and programs. </p> </section>
Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:10:31 +0000Dennis Coday1932 at https://www.ncronline.org